It is confirmed that South Korean Military has raised the state of ‘INFOCON’, which is an information tactic defense alert system, to one level higher to prepare for possibilities of cyber attacks from North Korea. “We have recently increased the state of INFOCON to one step higher by seeing that there are more possibilities now that North Korea might perform cyber terrors on South Korea.” said a representative for South Korean Military on the 14th.
South Korean Military has raised the state of INFOCON from ‘Readiness Condition’, which is level 4, to ‘Higher Readiness Condition’, which is level 3. INFOCON that is issued by a chairman of joint chiefs of staff is divided into 5 steps and its level increases as there are more possibilities of cyber terrors from North Korea.
South Korean Military had increased the level from 5 to 4 after North Korea had performed its 4th nuclear test on the 6th of last month and it had to increase the level again to 3 after North Korea had launched long-distance missiles recently. A representative for South Korean Military had announced that there aren’t any attempts on Ministry of National Defense and South Korean Military yet.
In a state where international societies have regularized their sanctions due to North Korea’s nuclear test and launch of long-distance missiles, South Korean authorities believe that there are more possibilities of cyber terrors now because North Korea wants to change current situation.
Lee Soon-jin, who is the chairman of joint chiefs of staff, also said that there are many possibilities of variety of provokation by North Korea on the 1st of this month and had mentioned rear infiltration and drone provokation as examples. “There are more possibilities of cyber terrors now than ever before and we are looking at situations very closely.” said a representative for South Korean Military.
National Cyber Security Center increased alert of cyber crisis to its 3rd stage ‘warning’ on the 11th. After issuing alert of ‘attention’ on the 8th of January due to North Korea’s 4th nuclear test, it increased its alert stage one step higher in just a month. Because possibility of cyber provokation is getting heightened, each organization’s security activities and national information communication facilities’ security conditions will be reinforced.
‘Warning’ is issued when there are impediments or intrusions to certain network or information systems. It is a measure to protect spreading of intrusions.
Staff Reporter Kim, Insoon | insoon@etnews.com